Occasions at which people ask me about my photographs have been increasing lately.

On the fundamental question, “Why landscapes?” I can’t offer more than a lighthearted answer referring to my desire to work outside, my hobby of traveling, and the fact that a landscape is for me the ideal environment for relaxed working without being disturbed.
Even the rather essential question, “Why infrastructure?” I casually answer by explaining that this is something that can be found anywhere and addressed at any time – a silent object that allows for one-sided interpretation.
Well I must have had some serious ideas back when I started working in photography. Ideas about the originality of my works; about indirect ways of expression (of human behavior); about the country I’m living in, etc. But now that I think about it, I know that the guy who was considering such things more than 30 years ago is still right here behind me.

– from Afterword by Toshio Shibata